Wildfire
by ROBOTJONZE
Summary: Not all marines have scars from battlefields. Before the Reapers, John had his own war to fight. And that war made him to what the galaxy knows today. (M-Langauge, sexual themes.)


_**GBC Announcer: "Live from the Presidium Tower on the Citadel this is GBC news, Late breaking, real-time events across the Milky Way! With lead anchors Areste T'neals and Caius Drusril! GBC news! Your galaxy! Your news!"**_

 _ **T'neals: "Good evening viewers from the Citadel and across the Milky Way, I'm Areste T'neals"**_

 _ **Drusril: "And I'm Caius Drusril, and it is now the thirteenth-hour galactic standard time. Coming to you live with incoming news."**_

 _ **T'neals: "In our first story galaxy wide concerns have reached Noveria when news came that notorious krogan clan Weyrloc had been financing a bio-project with Heyuan Genomics, a gene therapy firm based on the colony. Many have suspected AND clan Weyrloc has not denied, that the reason for the krogan clan into hiring the gene therapy firm is to jumpstarts projects based on for going the Genophage. A Bio-weapon that decreases krogan birthrates engineered by an STG salarian science team millennia ago. GBC received a statement from a Noverian spokesman saying, 'We are aware of the concerns brought forth by the Citadel Council and have stated before that the project is for research only. We will also like to remind the Council that Noveria is not within any bounds of Citadel jurisdiction and operate under our own sanction.' GBC will continue to inform you as this story develops."**_

 _ **Drusril: "In other news, political upheaval is expected as continuous tense events between the Batarian Hegemony and the Human System Alliance. Galactic relations have shaken due to territorial disputes within the Skyllian Verge with talks souring between both parties. Here on the Citadel, batarian ambassador Grotia Dho'beb along with several other batarian diplomats have threatened to close its embassy and terminate Citadel relations in protest after leaving a Council session frustrated calling the Council a 'human appeasing muck job'. As more galaxy wide demonstrations have taken place batarian and human hostility has been on the rise and the Citadel Council fear that military conflict could possibly be inevitable. An Alliance spokesman has stated, 'The System Alliance will take any steps necessary to protect our territories within the Verge. Note that we do not prefer any military action against the Batarian Hegemony nor do we wish to instigate sanction with Council detractors. We hope that the process of negotiating remains.' The Council has declined to comment."**_

 _ **T'neals: In other human news, humanity's first lead diplomat Ambassador Anita Goyle has announced her retirement. Goyle has served as humanity's representative on the Citadel for nearly twenty years and has decided to move on from her tenure within politics. Rumors around Goyle's replacement have been spread out but Alliance officials have stated that former Alliance Parliamentary Deputy minister of Citadel Affairs, Donnel Udina is likely to take Goyle's place…."**_

* * *

 _ **Adek**_

 _There is smoke around him. Droplets of rain pouring in through the hole where a roof once was. Fire...he could feel it, a warm inferno lightly brushing him like tall blades of grass._

 _Ears ringing, head throbbing, sight blurry and unfocused._

" _ **Shepard…"**_

 _He hears it, low, muffled, but the call gives him the nerves to try to and get to his feet. "Get up," he commands himself. "GET….UP!"_

Shepard pushes himself to his feet, he soaked in rainwater with faint smells of gas filling his nostrils from the burst of fire dotted around him. He lurches his body forward to grab the Rosenkov make assault rifle nearby. Pain still wracking him like a drum. The scene was like a horrid painting of Armageddon. Fire and smoke, with bits and morsels of batarians littering the area.

" _ **Shepard are you there?!"**_ the comm bellowed. Pops of static echoed it but the message was clear. "I'm here lieutenant!" he responded, the very effort of speaking drained him to a point where Shepard was slightly panting. "Lock...lock onto my signal…." he says lethargically.

How it came to this was not planned. If the mission went accordingly he would not have needed to fire his gun but things can never be so simple. No fate... doesn't work that way.

It started out easy, they were in the main lab offices, encrypted files uploading onto the osd while a junk file carrying a virus was being uploaded killing off any internal systems. Sneak in steal the data and sabotage the lab. A by and by black operation. It was running smoothly until the lab assistant walked in, it seemed she had forgotten her coat. A straight bullet from Leng's pistol went into the batarian woman's throat.

Startled by what just happened, Shepard clamped his hand over the woman's mouth, watching the blood gushes from her. He does nothing, no medi-gel, no pressure on the wound, not any sort of first aid. He just looked on in utter horrified disgust. _"Just... stop breathing."_ He remembered telling her. He held on until the light in her four bulbous eyes faded.

The intel finally had been received on the portable drive and it was time to go but the lab assistant's friend came walking in, impatient by guess for it was time go and they had ridden in the same car. She stopped in her mid-complaint seeing her friend on the floor along with two armed humans.

The mission was then compromised.

* * *

 _ **SSV Berlin**_

 _Forest...bear….._

 _Bear is in the trap, instead of killing it you free it. The smell of leaves burning in the distance. Hot winds blow…."Mom! MOM WHERE ARE YOU!"_

Shepard opens his eyes to find himself in the cramped bunk onboard the _SSV Berlin_. The sound of Leng calling wakes him. "You talk in your sleep you know that?" said Leng standing near the door.

Shepard mumbles something to himself, still shrugging off the sleep as he rises up. His feet touching the stale clammy floor, him reaching for his boots. "What do you want?" he says sounding groggy.

"The Lieutenant and the Captain wants to see us both. Debrief."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "Debrief? We were never there. No mission specs, not even on paper. There's nothing to talk about." he says lacing his boots.

Leng scoffed, "You know full well they wanna talk about the shit show that went down."

"And I bet you're wondering if I'm going to be the one that blames you for it?" Shepard retorted, harshly.

There was a brief silence, Leng saying nothing only giving Shepard a slight glare with his pale eyes. "Freshen yourself up and be at the stern, the captain wants us into the comm room in two minutes." Leng finally says turning to the door and leaving. Shepard sits at his bed in silent reflection for a moment. His body trying to shake off the after-effects of a hard night's sleep.

His unit had been part of the marine detachment here on the _Berlin_ for three rotations now and it was still taking a toll sleeping onboard an Alliance starship. He had wondered what part of the galaxy they were now exactly. Looking out a window did nothing. It was just a canvas of black with faint touches light that of star millions of miles away. Windows on a starship seemed pointless for Shepard but it was all part of the grandiose of space travel romanticism, the Alliance was still spewing out for recruitment efforts.

The Berlin had been skirting here and there across the Traverse doing a few offhand patrols within the Terminus Systems. Shepard hoped it was somewhere near the Citadel at least. It was beginning to get tiring of being in the middle of bum fuck nowhere, and civilization was starting to become something of an enigma.

A piss, wash of the face and a drink of water were all Shepard could do to _freshen up_. Beer and a hot plate was what really could do the trick but chow wasn't due in the next three hours thus Shepard made his way to the Berlin's stern, taking the ship's lift to the main floor.

The _SSV Berlin_ was a heavy-headed cruiser that does the by the by patrols within Alliance space. A pretty large ship even for a cruiser with a crew of eight hundred personnel. Crowds weren't an issue to Shepard, being a boy from Earth, mass groups of people wasn't something that really bothered him but still given the fact that space on a starship was considered a luxury it could be quite overwhelming at times walking around in something like a cage with spans of airless, no gravity mass of space outside of that said cage.

"Hey, Marcus!" Shepard called out to an ensign from the navigation team who was well on his way to the CIC. "Any idea where we're at?" The ensign who was busy reading a datapad with a pen in his mouth, took it out to speak, "We just hit the Sigma relay intending for Arcturus Stream."

"Arcturus Stream?" Shepard repeated, "We're heading to the Arcturus Station?"

"God willing."

Leng was already waiting outside the comm room waiting for Shepard to show up. "Two minutes was six minutes ago," he said following Shepard inside. "Your machinations of timing me is creepy and unnecessary." Shepard said.

Already at the comm room was their commanding officer, Staff-Lieutenant Andrew Dunn. Dunn was a ten year veteran of the Alliance, a special forces officer with an N7 designation. He commanded the marine special forces unit codenamed _Copperhead_. A small squad of five marines, specializing in direct action, infiltration and deep reconnaissance. And one of the few special operations squads that handled black operations within the 103rd division.

Shepard was Dunn's second and tactical reconnaissance specialist, Leng also specializing in recon and acting spotter for Shepard when in a sniping ground. The other two was Andrea Green tech specialist and munitions expert and Anya Mendez the squad's biotic.

"Sorry to wake you so abruptly sleeping beauty." said Dunn seeing both Shepard and Leng entering.

"Couldn't find a better Prince Charming." Shepard said.

Dunn huffed a chuckle, "Sorry, Mendez is busy with chores in the cargo hold."

He saw Shepard's cheek flush a bit of red.

"Speaking of Mendez." Leng said, "Where is she and Green? Aren't they going to be part of debriefing too?"

Dunn shook his head, "Only you two the Brass needs to speak to."

That gave Shepard some alarm "The Brass?"

"You do realize the ruckus you caused on that raid has caught the attention from high command don't you sergeant?" said another voice. It was Margo Vaughn, the captain of the Berlin. A gruff woman who wore the stress and sternness of command through the tight wrinkles around her dark eyes. Her looks earned her the nickname, _the Crone_ due to her pale face, tight lips and light brown graying hair she kept in a tight bun giving her the look of an old bird. Despite her stern posture, she was rather lax when it came to speaking with her marines, a sort of garnered respect due to their jobs.

"Are they happy?" said Shepard in between the tone of sarcasm and seriousness.

Vaugh's thin lips curled into a nonchalant smile, "We'll have to see." She gave Dunn a raise of her head, motioning him to start the uplink to the QEC. A sudden holo of an Alliance Admiral pops into a display.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Admiral Hackett." Vaughn said snapping into a salute, Shepard, Leng, and Dunn did the same.

Shepard's mind began to race with nerves tingling, the Admiral Hackett of the Fifth Fleet was before him. _"Shit…"_ he said in his head, _"If I knew I'd be speaking to him I would've stalled the pee break."_ Then again he thought, taking a piss was a good idea for he would've done right then and there at that sight of Hackett.

" _ **At ease…"**_ Hackett said.

Shepard and Leng snapped into a parade's rest in unison.

"These are the marines part of the raid on Adek sir." said Dunn.

" _ **So I see."**_ Hackett replied. _**"So...tell me which of you was the one that had the idea make it look like a power surge."**_

"Me sir." Shepard barked, his eyes front and wide.

" _ **And how did it come to that?**_

"We were compromised, sir."

" _ **I know that from the report, I'm just wondering how you were compromised."**_

Shepard could slightly see Leng swallow a little as if he was preparing him for a blame.

"A woman…" Shepard began choosing his words carefully, "A woman came into the lab we were in."

" _ **And she saw you?"**_

"Our tactical cloaks weren't deployed at the time, sir."

" _ **What happened then?"**_

"The woman ran screaming, alerting security personnel. We had gathered what intel we could and made a break the maintenance elevator and instead of heading to the evac zone, we decided to head straight to the power generation room."

Leng glanced at Shepard a for a moment looking bewildered but quickly went back to looking forward not wanting to give anything away.

"There Leng and I set grenade charges on the generators, I figured using the cover the heavy storm outside it would've looked a lightning struck and power surge happened." Shepard finished.

" _ **But it became more than just a power surge."**_

Shepard nodded, "The research station blew once we were out of the room. But I overestimated the mass of the blast."

" _ **That you did."**_ Hackett said plainly.

"We were trying to cover any evidence of us being there." said Leng finally speaking, "Uh...Sir"

" _ **There were no signs of any human influence found, yet. But the casualties reports are high, it's classified as a massacre."**_

That made Shepard and Leng gulped a little. "Sir." Shepard began, "I read through some of the information we gathered from Adek station and well...they found an ancient starship in the Hades Gamma cluster?" Shepard wasn't trying to change the subject even though it sounded like it.

" _ **Yes in the Dis system, the Leviathan of Dis is what they coded it as."**_

"They say the starship is ancient it probably existed around the time of the Protheans, probably being of Prothean make itself."

" _ **It's suspected, though we have yet to confirm it."**_

"That being said, harboring prothean technology is a high offense by Citadel law so the batarians won't really go public about what happened on Adek won't they."

Hackett grinned a little, _**"You're right they won't. But it doesn't excuse what we've done. In a Council procession, us running a military raid in their home territory is a high offense in itself. We could be penalized severely."**_ he says harshly.

"Have we fully analyzed the data?" said Captain Vaughn this time speaking. Her words clearing up in tautness from the Admiral.

" _ **We've got most of it but there's still some that's encrypted our hanar partners have sped things up actually and are a big help."**_

Dunn raised an eyebrow "Hanar?"

" _ **They're the ones that blew the whistle, a trade representative from Belan was an investor in a survey firm the batarians hired. It was they who found out about the batarians little op in the Hades Gamma cluster."**_

Dunn snorted a laugh, "Holy shit."

" _ **The Hanar wish to improve trade and diplomatic relations with the Alliance."**_

"By working black operations with us?" said Vaughn.

" _ **Captain our diplomatic practices with other species are not what we are discussing here."**_

Vaughn cleared her throat a little brought back by Hackett's bite of a reply. "Yes sir, of course not trying to sidetrack."

"Have the batarian implemented us!" said Dunn sounding a little anxious. A beat of silence..

" _ **No they have not."**_ Easy relief then soon return to the room again.

" _ **A power failure is what the batarians are confirming it as, or its what they are saying over external channels. We have yet to see any sign of alarm so far we are not named."**_

Shepard and Leng both eased their guard sighing in much-needed relief.

" _ **Despite the circumstances of the outcome, we can say mission accomplished. Shepard, Leng, job well done. You have creativity, you just lack...style."**_ Hackett said, finding the right wording for it.

"Do we have further orders sir?" said Shepard, he was asking either Dunn or Hackett for an answer.

" _ **You two will receive another assignment once you've docked at Arcturus, I'll have to discuss something further with Lieutenant Dunn as well as command first before you get any word."**_

"Understood." said Dunn snapping into a salute. Everyone else in the comm room did the same. Hackett only nods his head before cutting communications. _**"Hackett out."**_ his final word.

"Just us two?" said Leng.

Dunn nodded a yes, "Like Hackett said, after my meeting with the Admiralty. They are furthering an evaluation of the op on Adek."

"Don't think too much on it boys." said Vaughn, "We'll be in Arcturus soon where you can get some R&R."

Although the captain's words were needed, Shepard couldn't break tensity that was shrouding him. Something was gonna happen, something that can change his entire place within marines, he could feel it in his gut.


End file.
